Love Birds

Chapter Fifty Five

-Dick's POV-

I hurried through the front door of Wayne Manor and into my room. Alfred's greetings died on his lips as I quickly shut my door, locking it behind me. My utility belt snapped off and landed harshly on the bed. I didn't care about it in that moment.

I clicked on my laptop. My breaths came out in quick, nervous pants. Inhaling deeply, I tried to control myself. It was to no avail.

My mind had been rattled and my brain shooken up. Thoughts raced through my mind and feelings I had so desperately tried to ignore resurfaced. I couldn't think straight and I couldn't control my breathing. I played the night over and over in my mind, hoping that I could relive it.

"Gotcha," I whispered to myself, smiling so widely that the Joker would've been jealous. I was surprised Athena didn't attack me while I placed the tracker on her. Usually, she could detect a tracker from a mile away. However, it had done it's job.

Did it?

Apparently, Athena Thomas has been hiding out for two months in the slums of Gotham. The tracker was hidden inside an abandoned building that I was pretty sure had fallen down. Still, I stared at the little blip on the map marking where the girl of my dreams -- and of my nightmares -- was hiding from me.

For awhile, I sat on my bed staring at the blip. I let myself zone out. Memories came flooding back. I could feel her hands on my back, massaging me after a hard day at work of being a hero. I could feel her fingers caressing my shoulder, holding onto me as we danced the night away together. I could feel her lips resting on mine, promising to spill unspoken secrets to me. All at once, all the pain and urges I had had for her came back like a tidal wave that threatened to sweep me into the undertow.

I dug my palms into my eyes and pulled gently at my own hair. Anything to distract me from thinking of all the good things. She lied to you, she lied to you, she lied to you. I repeated it over and over, but the words wouldn't stick. She's not the girl you thought she was.

But, what if she is? The kiss that we shared came to mind. I could still feel her lips burning against mine. I also could practically feel her jaw under my fingertips, her body fitting against mine like a puzzle piece.

The French people had pressured us into kissing. I had tried to tell myself it was just to secure our alibi. When Athena had agreed to it, I couldn't hesitate. I didn't wait for her to come in first. I couldn't. All I could think in that moment was that I wanted to kiss her. If I let her come in first, she would almost definitely turn away and make some excuse. I couldn't help myself.

And that's why I was flustered. I wanted to hate her so much. After all, she was an assassin -- that much was clear -- and she had lied about it to me. As a person with a secret identity, I wasn't always truthful with my past girlfriends either. But, I had to admit, I felt differently about Victoria...or Athena rather. I had laid myself out for her; told her everything. I told her how I felt, what I was truly afraid of. That's why I was so shocked by her lies. I'd thought we meant the same to each other. But, I didn't even know half about her.

But, I couldn't hate her. I had tried to will myself to try to, but every ounce of me was full of love.

I let my eyes wander back to the little red blip. It hadn't moved, which meant that neither did she. It was late and dark. Batman and Robin were on patrol. A single thought came to mind that I should probably be Nightwing too. I was still in my uniform, after all. I had stared at the location for so long, I had memorized it.

I hopped off my bed and clipped on my utility belt. A flashback of what Athena did in my room made me smirk. I raced through the Mansion again, leaving Alfred in the dust.

Just as I expected, I saw a Bat symbol in the sky. I took to the skies. I swung through Gotham until I hovered across the street from where the blip was. Hidden snugly between two old buildings was a tiny warehouse, probably used for business inventory storage decades ago. I could understand why I had missed it. All the other buildings were such eye sores that I automatically assumed they were all in that bad of condition.

I couldn't do it.

My limbs refused to move. I was glued to the building I hung from. She was in there, I knew that. But, I couldn't go in there. What would I even say? Just because I still liked her didn't mean it changed anything. Just because I had kissed her didn't change anything. Oh, what was I kidding, of course it did. But, what would I say? What if she couldn't forgive me? What if I couldn't forgive her?

The front door swung open. I could barely make her out in the dark. Her form moved in the dark smoothly, yet strongly. It was the only way I could tell it was her at all. She walked between the two buildings and a line shot up into the sky. It attached to a nearby apartment complex and she swung away. She hadn't seen me.

I spent the night thinking over what my next course of action should be. I helped out where I could on patrol, but my mind was on other things. I kept my muscles distracted so they wouldn't get in the way of my brain. When I finally returned for sleep, I knew what I wanted to do.

I was going to make everything better.

I went to work at the police station, like normal, but I was still distracted. My heart wouldn't stop beating fast and I was constantly sweating. I turned down any coffee in fear that it would make me have a heart attack. I was nervous. Not even directing traffic calmed me down.

I saw Athena briefly while doing Team missions. We were assigned on different squads almost immediately, but I saw her for a minute before we headed out. She didn't glance my way. To really think about it, she never really glanced my way. I couldn't blame her.

As soon as we got away from the Team, I knew it was time. Everyone returned home at around 6:00 pm. It had been a small Team mission day, so we got out early. The tracker told me where Athena had gone. I prepared myself. I didn't bother changing, even though I stopped at Wayne Manor for about an hour. I told Alfred to not expect me for dinner. If it went well, I could convince Athena to get dinner with me. If I didn't, I would eat Ramen noodles in Gotham park in shame.

I swung down from the building. I took a deep breath and stared at the old door. It had several locks on it. I raised my knuckles. My hand hovered there for a few seconds.

You can do this.

I knocked.

~~~~~~It's been awhile, but here it is! Dick hasn't really been able to speak in awhile, so I finally let him have a say. Thanks for all the positive comments, you guys, really. I looked at the stats for this book and I saw something really cool. There are people from all around world reading this book! There are people in South Africa reading it! If you're reading this and you're that percent from South Africa, that is so cool! There are people from Europe too and Asia and Australia and Canada meanwhile I've never been out of the US :(. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I love all of you! Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow if you aren't already! PS Head over to DC_ComicsWattyAwards if you want to vote for this story. It'd mean a lot~~~~~~~~~